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Thursday, November 24, 2005

Thanksgiving By The Numbers: 34:34:40:3:1

Out on my AM Run, round about 8:00AM, I took the usual route through the park trails. Here's what I saw in the approximately 34 minutes it took me to do the loop:

At least 34 homeless folks - this is an underestimation as if there were clumps, I only counted heads, not lumps on the ground covered with sleeping bags and/or cardboard.

At least one 40 oz beer being shared for breakfast between two homeless folks.

Three Hell's Angels riding their expensive machines down the street.

Also spotted a candle light vigil spot in the park with flowers and pics and the like celebrating a good samaritan who was killed warning a woman about a man with a gun.

We often find it hard to be as thankful as we should be these days. For so many Americans, it is no longer a question of having too little or having enough. It's the difference between having too much and having way, way too much.

It is too easy to forget, amid this abundance, that all across America a different kind of Great Depression is still going on. The old stories would have been told very differently - if they were told at all - if they had been tales of growing up poor in the midst of wealth. There was no shame in the collective poverty of the Great Depression. There is no shame in the poverty Americans suffer today. The shame adheres to those who do nothing to change it.

4 comments:

Thanks Windspike for the thoughtful post...and sometimes it is what is COUNTED that matters..and there is not enough counting going on...thank you for being someone that counts and observes and cares....

There is no shame in the poverty Americans suffer today. The shame adheres to those who do nothing to change it.

The question adheres, How?

Maybe if the people who think themselves 'middle-class' and have less than $10,000 in cash savings wore their change the toilet gasket clothes to work one day? The problem would be apparent.

It's not that the king has no clothes, quite the reverse. Fancy clothes prevent us knowing other people who share our situation. Strength in numbers is lost to 'middle class' charade. Everyone is afraid to be what they are.

Turkeys, unite! Lose those fine feathers. Looking good for the stew pot won't help you.

Well, well it appears that a repug troll has come acalling- There is no " Middle Class Charade" going on???!! You have to wonder what little glass house he has been living in....America is in Trouble- and many that are Homeless today were working a year ago- And many Vets that are coming back are coming back wounded and/or with PTSD, or coming back to NO job....Katrina showed many in this country just how bad things are , there are many who live pay check to paycheck and even though they are careful and frugal- the money is too tight, and food, gas and housing under BushCo$ have skyrocketed. And 35 million have NO health Insurance, 45 million living below poverty level, 5 Million of those are CHILDREN. ( The previous commentor made some moronic statment about "Everyone is afraid to be who they are"...which when you are talking about Edlerly and Disabled, and Sick, and Children is just total nonesense- unless you are a repug)So Dear Blog Friend- keep trying to raise awareness, and educate and advocate for those that Some do not want acknowledged or remembered. Having a Conscience and Backbone is part of speaking out for folks that are often remain Invisible- the poor, the homeless, the sick. The Emperor''s New Clothes have now indeed been shredded- and they were woven with words "Compassionate Conservatism" and "Faithbased Values".Maybe the Commentor above can now go apply for MrBrown's New Disaster Consulting Company.....